Humidifier



june 2, l

1,540,335 W. E. HODGE HUMIDIFIER Filed June 4, 1923 2 SheeS-Sheet 1 `lume 2, W. E. HODGE HUMIMFIER 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Filed June 4.31925 Patented June 2, 1925.

HUMIDIFIER.

Application filed .Tune 4,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. Hopen,

a citizen of the United States, residing at' Charlotte, in the county of Mecklenburg and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Humidifiers, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates and particularly to a method of and apparatus for humidifying air. The invention relates to that general method of humidiication in which the humidifier is mounted in the room, whose air is to be humiditied, and in which air drawn from the room is passed through the humidifying head and then discharged into the room.

In designing devices of this character, the constant effort has been to reduce the size of the device and to reduce the number of devices required for a given cubic volume and this effort necessarily implies an increased evaporative rate and an increased radius of action for each humidifying head. The limiting factors on such reduction of size and number of heads have been the tendency of high velocity air currents to carry large drops of water into the room and there precipitate them, and the tendency of the treated air to recirculate, that is to say, to flow directly from the discharge back to the intake of the humidifier. rl`his last tendency limits the evaporative rate of the device and its radius of action.

Prior to my present invention it had been determined that the velocity of the air, as it passed the water spraying device, was a controlling factorin the tendency of the air current to set large drops of water into motion toward the discharge. This lcd to the development of an improved type of humiditier in which a slow current of air was surcharged with finely divided moisture and then passed through an eliminator to remove large drops, after which this slow flowing current, surcharged with moisture, was mixed within the device with a faster moving current of unhumidified air which assimilated the excess .moisture in the. slow moving current, and gave a resultant rate oi to air conditioning 1923. serial No. 643,476.

outflow suiiciently high to give a relatively wide radius of action .to the head and to prevent in a large degree the harmful tendency towards recirculation.

Devices of this character have gone into successful use but have'required considerable maintenance care because' when used in a dirty atmosphere,such as is encountered in cotton mills, the duct for the untreated high velocity air current soon became progressively clogged, thus progressively reducing the efliciency was cleanedA at frequent intervals.

The desire to avoid this maintenance difficulty led me to eliminate the high velocity of the device, unless it air duct characteristic of the prior art and to substitute therefor a high velocity free air current flowing outside the humidifier head in a path transverse to the discharging slow moving air current. Not only did this change avoid the maintenance diiliculty which suggestcd'it,but it resulted in a remarkable and unexpected increase in the evaporative rate, the increase being approxi-- mately 60% over ance known to me.

The study of theperformance` of the dev ice when operated at its highest evaporathe best previous performi tive efficiency ledto the discovery that it involves a new operative Generally stated, this method in its preferrediorm consists in surcharging a relatively slow moving air current with finely divided moisture particles, then passing the slow moving air current through an eliminator to remove any large particles of moisture and` discharging this air current into a rapidly moving air current flowing in the air of the room itself. The two currents are so directed transversely to each other as to produce intimate of flow of the two currents'are so correlated that the direction of the resulting mixed stream is favorable to wide dissemination of the treated air and unfavorable to recirculatory flow'.

From the apparatus'standpoint, the invention also oti'ers marked advantages for the reason that the casing structure may be greatly simplified and that a single fan may principle or method.

mixing and the directions gin of the balile 20 is thus be adapted by proper design to produce both the air currents required inthe operation of the device.

The preferred device for carrying out the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view chiefly in vertical axial section showing the complete device, and

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

An annular frame 5 is connected by brackets 6 with supporting rods 7 whose upper ends are adapted for connection to the ceiling or other support. A spider 8 is bolted to the frame 5 and sustains an electric motor 9 with its axis vertical and concentric with frame 5. The motor 9 receives current through the cable 10 and rotates a threebladed fan 11, current. The frame 5 also carries an upstanding sheet metal skirt 12 which is concentric with and surrounds the fan 11 and tends to prevent the frame and spider' :from disturbing the downward air current.

Suspended from the brackets 6, by means of' two supporting rods 13 and brackets 14, is a circular pan 15 whose outside diameter is considerably greater than the diameter of the ring 5 and whose central portion is depressed and provided with a water discharge connection 16 to carry away excess water'from the humidifier. The connection 16 `is protected by a removable strainer 17 which rests in the central depression of the pan 15.

Mounted above the pan 15 and supported chiefly by a series of sheet metal spacers 18 is an annular trough or gutter 19. These spacers are V-shaped in horizontal cross section and have water ports 48 at their lower edges. At their tops they straddle drain ports 49 in the gutter 19, so that the gutter 19 is drained to pan 15 through the spacers.

The space intervening between the pan 15 and the gutter 19 serves for the discharge of the humidified air from the device and in order to deflect the air radially outward and eliminate large water drops an annular conical Ybafile 20 is removably mounted above the screen 17 on spacers 21. Theouter marabove the pan to permit the flow of eliminatedwater to the central depression and thence to the water outlet 16.

Water is supplied to the device by a pipe 22 through a stop valve 23 which is connected to a transverse pipe 24. This, as is clear- 1 shown in Fig. 1, extends through one of t e arms 6-across the ring 5 and is securedy into a blind socket-25 in the opposite side of the ring. A T 26 is mounted o'n the pipe 24 at the center of the ring 5 and to this is mounted a ni ple 27 which may be specially formed, as s own, to house a water strainer (not visible in ythe drawing).

to produce a downward air' Mounted on the nipple 27 is a jet spray nozzle 28 whose exact form is not material to the invention7 it being possible to use various dilerent spray nozzles. That indicated at 28 is a well known type, hence need notbe described in detail.

The pipe 24 supports a tubular air duct 29 through whose walls it passes diametrically. Duct 29 .is of considerably smaller diameter than fan 11 and extends approximately halfway to the gutter 19. lt is surrounded and continued by tubular extension 30 which telescopes thereover and terminates in a laring bell 31. This bell 3l normally rests on the annular gutter 19 and serves as a support to the extension 30. The

.outer margin of bell 81 is slightly larger than the inner margin of' gutter 19, so that the gutter collects water flowing down the inner surface of the bell.

A flaring skirt 32 surrounding the bell 31 is also rigidly mounted on the extension 30 and is so formed as to seat against the outer margin of the gutter 19 and exclude dust and lint from accumulating in the gutter. The fan 11 is larger in diameter than the duct formed by the members 29 and 30 and is so formed as to direct a relatively slow moving air current through the duct, and a faster moving annular parallel air current surrounding the duct.

The skirt 32 deflects the annular current just mentioned in an outward direction so that it flows outward and downward against the humidified air issuing radially from the space between the pan 15 and the gutter 19. It will be observed that the duct composed of the members 29 and 30 is the essential means for guiding the air flow through the humidifier. In certain of the claims I shall describe this duct as exposed on its exterior to the free atmosphere,l to express the tact that, at and near the point of mixing of the two air currentsthe outer air stream is not confined as it is in the conventional types of humidifier using an external or secondary duct. At the point of mixture the second'- ary or diluting stream of air may properly be described as a free flowing streamfor a :tree current. Obviously the annular frame 5 and the skirt 12 might be regarded as exerting a slight confining action, but since these are at the top and closely adjacent the fan, they exert no material effect on the flow of air at or below the flaring skirt 32.

When the device is in use, water is supplied through the pipe 22 and valve 2S uulflll lli ` drops,

- there would be danger The secondary free current deliveredby larger drops of the spray will strike the walls of the duct and flowing down the same will accumulate in the gutter 19. This water discharges throughv ports' 49, spacers 18, and ports 48, so that it is kept from fur ther contact with the air current until it reaches pan near the edge of baffle 20, and thence 'flows to discharge through oonnection 16.

If the air current fiowing down through the duct tends to take up any large water these will be dashed against the baffle or against-the pan 15 aS theair currentchanges its directlon at the bottom of f the duct, an hence will be eliminated.

The device is so operated that the air discharged through the space between the pan 15 and gutter 19 is surcharged with finely divided mist, so heavily charged in fact, that unless this air were immediately mixed with additional relatively dry air of precipitation.

the fan not only supplies 4a large part of this necessary air but it serves the useful purposes of overcoming any tendency of the discharging air to rise, andof inducing or accelerating the outflow of' 'the moistureladen air.

The effect is to permit the device to be operated at an unprecedentedly high evapor tive rate on the basis of the size of the head. The slowly moving air current takes up an enormous burden of line moisture particles under conditions most favorable to the rejection of large drops, andins'tead of delivering these fine particles into a confined current of limited volume, delivers them immediately into a relatively unconfinecl and very large volume of air into which they are swept at high velocity by the faster moving free air current. The fine mist thus leaves the head as soon as formed and separated from large drops, and being immediately brought into Contact with a large volume of untreated air is disseminated through the air without danger of precipita-tion.

To clean the device the member may be telescopcd upward over the member 29, giv ing access to the bafiie 20,'gutter 19 and screen 17.

What is claimed is: `v V 1. The method of humidifying air which consists in surcharging a confined current of air with finely divided moisture; discharging said surcharged air into the room whose air is to be humidified; and subjecting the discharging air at the point of discharge to a traversely directed, free flowing air current.

2. The method of humidifying air which consists in surcharging a relatively slow moving confined current of air with finely divided moisture; discharging said sur `atmosphere charged air into the room whose air is tobe humidified; and subjecting the discharging air at the point of discharge to a transversely ldirected rapidly flowing free air current.

3. The method of humidifying air which consists in surcharginga relatively slow movinfr confined current of air with finely divided moisture; discharging said surcharged air in a general horizontal direc` tion 'into the room whose air is to be humidified; and'subjecting the discharging air to a downward and outward rapidly flowing ree air current.'

4. The method of humidifying airwhich consists in producing a.' relativelyfy slow moving confined current of air which moves downward and then discharges substantially horizontally into the room whose air is to be humidified; surcharging said confined current with vfinely divided moisture and subjecting the discharging air to a rapidly moving free air current directed obliquely downward and in the general direction of flow of said discharging air.

5. In a humidifier, the combination of a' vertical duct exposed on its exterior tothe free atmosphere, means for spraying water into the air in said'duct, a pan spaced from the bottom of said duct in position to collect precipitated water and to direct radially outward air discharging from the bottom of the duct, a fan serving to force air downward through said duct and also downward around said duct in an annular unconfined current; and a Haring deflector serving to directsuch annular current obliquely downward and outward into the air dis charging from the linterval duct and pan.

6. The combination with a humidifier including a vertical duct exposed on its exterior to the free atmosphere and waterspraying means'mounted within theduct, said duct being arranged to discharge humidified air horizontally outward in a radially flowing annular stream at the'lower end of the duct; of a fan arranged to force air downward throu h said duct and also-- `in a free downward owing annular stream surrounding said'duct, said annular stream serving to mix with and depress the humidified air radially discharging from the lower end ofv said duct.

7'. In a humidifier, the duct exposed on between said combination of a its exterior to the free vmeans serving to produce a water spray within said duct; a direction changing bafiie located in the path of air through said duct beyond said spray and arranged Ito eliminatey large water-drops from the air current, permittingl fine drops to pass; means for withdrawing the eliminated water; a fan arranged to force air through said duct and in an annular free current outside said duct; and means causing said currents to mix as the first current issues from said duct.

8. In a humidier, the combination of a -vertical duct exposed on its exterior to the free atmosphere; means for spraying water into the air in said duct; a pan spaced from the bottom of said duct in position to collect precipitated Water and to direct ram dially outward air discharging from the duct; a fan serving to force Y bottom of the air downward through said duct and also downward around said duct in an annular unconfined current; and a iaring defiector serving to direct such annular current obliquely downward .and outward into the air discharging from the interval between said duct and pan after such air has passed from confinementthereby.

` In testimony whereofl 'I have name to this specification.

WILLIAM B. HoDGE.

signed my 2o 

